Aircraft fuselages are designed to withstand the loads caused by pressurisation and the loads transmitted by the engines.
To accomplish this fuselages habitually include circumferential frames, also called “orbital frames”, together with an aerodynamic skin, sometimes called a “self-stiffened skin”, attached to these circumferential frames and fitted with stiffeners habitually extending longitudinally, which are attached to an inner face of the skin, and which are generally called “stringers”.
Stringers can have sections of varied types, for example T-shaped, I-shaped, J-shaped or Ω-shaped sections. In certain known configurations, these circumferential frames have a base plate which is attached directly to the inner face of the self-stiffened skin, in which case the frames have notches where the stringers are to pass. In certain known configurations the stringers are interposed between the circumferential frames and the self-stiffened skin, where the frames then pass above the stringers.
In both cases, and in particular in the latter case, angle brackets, commonly called “clips”, are positioned between the stringers, and connect the circumferential frames to the skin and/or to the longitudinal stiffeners.
Nevertheless, the clamps are positioned on the frame and attached one-by-one. This individual treatment of each clamp makes the assembly process expensive, particularly since a very large number of clamps is associated with each fuselage frame. In addition, this phase of manufacture of the fuselage generally requires the presence of many operators inside the fuselage segment in question, due to the large number of mounting clamps. It can consequently prove difficult to accomplish other assembly tasks simultaneously from inside the segment when the operators are installing and attaching these clamps, which constitutes another factor penalising manufacturing times and costs.
There is therefore a requirement to optimise this phase of positioning and attachment of the clamps, in order to limit its impact on the overall cost of manufacture of the fuselage.